Genesis, Chapter 26

Chapter 26

Verses 1-35

1. And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines, in Gerar.
2. The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you.
3. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.
4. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed,
5. because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”
6. So Isaac settled in Gerar.
7. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance.
8. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife.
9. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.'”
10. Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
11. Then Abimelech charged all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”
12. And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him,
13. and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy.
14. He had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him.
15. Now the Philistines had stopped up all the wells that his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, filling them with earth.
16. And Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”
17. So Isaac departed from there and encamped in the Valley of Gerar and settled there.
18. And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped up after the death of Abraham, and he gave them the names that his father had given them.
19. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water,
20. the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” So he named the well Esek, because they contended with him.
21. Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that also, so he named it Sitnah.
22. And he moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. So he called its name Rehoboth, saying, “For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.”
23. From there he went up to Beersheba.
24. And the LORD appeared to him the same night and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father. Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
25. So he built an altar there and called upon the name of the LORD and pitched his tent there. And there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his advisor and Phicol the commander of his army.
27. Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?”
28. They said, “We see plainly that the LORD has been with you. So we said, let there be now an oath between us, between ourselves and you, and let us make a covenant with you,
29. that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the LORD.”
30. So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank.
31. In the morning, they rose early and exchanged oaths. Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace.
32. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.”
33. He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.
34. When Esau was forty years old, he took Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite to be his wife, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite,
35. and they made life bitter for Isaac and Rebekah.

Interpretation: This chapter illustrates Isaac’s journey through challenges and blessings in the land of the Philistines. Despite the famine, Isaac is guided by divine promises to his father Abraham, showing faithfulness in God’s provisions. His experiences with the Philistines, including conflicts and treaties, highlight themes of survival, prosperity, and the importance of water in a desert environment. The narrative also sets up future tensions through the mention of Esau’s marriages, foreshadowing further family conflicts.